Sunday, October 6, 2013

The Wind Waker HD Logbook, Day 3

Sidequest day!

The whole day I did pretty much nothing else than sidequests. Before I went to Forsaken Fortress again to advance the story, I did every possible sidequest. I collected all available figurines, mapped the entire ocean, salvaged ALL Light Rings (that's a lot), conquered all Lookout Platforms (all but one, where you need the Fire Arrows), conquered all Submarines, killed all Big Octos, completed the Goron trading scenario, filled all sockets on Windfall Island with decorations, did the Forest Water quest and more. I also collected all three Triforce Charts and got their pieces.

So, only the things that require the Hammer, Fire/Ice Arrows, Power Bracelets, Iron Boots, Mirror Shield and/or Hookshot are left. Also, the Eye-Reefs are inactive before your return to Forsaken Fortress, they're all completely peaceful. So, I have to return there to cause havoc and get their treasures. However, it's weird that you get things like the Big Octo Chart or the Great Fairy Chart from these reefs, while in reality you can easily find all Big Octos and Great Fairies before getting those charts. So, these rewards are rather useless for thorough players.

Light Rings

Talking about charts, my printed out Light Ring Chart worked great. The Light Rings are all in the same exact same locations (I also happened to find the one southeast of Dragon Roost... don't know why I couldn't find it in the beginning of the game), so I could cross them off the chart and keep track of all of them. And they now give you ALL 50 Rupees. All of them. It makes them feel more worth it. I remember that, when I played the GameCube version, I was heavily annoyed by all the Light Rings, because they felt like a boring chore, where you do repetitive things for a few Rupees. But 50 Rupees per chest? It makes it really worth it to go for these things. The clusters of five Light Rings now even give you 250 Rupees! Though, because of the lack of Triforce Charts, there isn't much use for all the Rupees. I got all three Triforce Charts deciphered, bought everything from the golden Beedle, finished the trading transactions and I even filled the entire house of the rich people with Shop Guru statues... but I'm still close to 5000 Rupees yet again. I guess, I have to try out the new Magic Armor, which takes your Rupees instead of magic.

Figurines

Of all the tasks I did today, the figurine collecting was probably the quickest and most enjoyable. Being able to make and deliver 12 pictographs at once makes this so much easier and more fun, it's great. It didn't even take one hour to get everyone from Windfall, Dragon Roost, Forest Haven and Outset. On the GameCube the figurine collecting was probably one of the most tedious sidequests in the history of Zelda, but Nintendo did a great job to turn the whole thing into something fun and enjoyable. The way it always should have been. I can't praise this enough, collecting all figurines in The Wind Waker HD is quick and great.

Tingle Bottles

I was hoping all day that I would get a Tingle Bottle with something useful for my collection. Like Puppet Ganon, Tetra or any other missable. But usually I only get joke messages. And the jokes start to repeat themselves. Yesterday I made a selfie in Tetra's cabin, where you can see an image of Link at the wall. And made a joke about it. Today I got about four Tingle Bottles from other people doing the exact same thing... and now I feel stupid. xD I really try to focus on sending out useful messages (locations of Tingle Statues, the new Treasure Charts, photos of missable figurines), but sometimes I just can't help but make a stupid selfie. It's just so hilarious.

Boating

It's weird that they didn't update the Boat / Rupee Course with a new level for the Swift Sail. It would also have been the perfect spot to award you with Treasure Chart #42 - instead you get it now from the annoying Pig-Finding game on Windfall.

Talking about the Swift Sail... It happened to me today that I accidently jumped with full speed into a Big Octo and got insta-defeated, because I was too close to him when the battle started... lol. I guess, you have to look out at where you're going with the new sail.

And another change that wasn't reported by any big newssite is the fact that they updated the maritime battling. You don't get knocked off from your boat by enemies anymore, which makes fighting on boat A LOT easier and less annoying. Running into a group of sea Octoroks could be very frustrating on the GameCube, because you kept being knocked off your boat. Also, Gyorgs can now be killed with only one arrow instead of two. And the items left by killed enemies on the sea now fly towards you. There have been many improvements to make fighting on boat somewhat more enjoyable.

Forest Water

I like that the item now has a timer. It gives you 30 Minutes instead of 20. It takes the challenge out of the thing, I was doing all kinds of sidequests while delivering the Forest Water and still did it all with 10 Minutes left on the clock...

I had the problem though that there weren't any marks on my map. On the GameCube the map would display, which islands have the trees and which ones already got watered. This was completely missing from my map. Luckily I was able to remember most of the locations. Only the Fairy Island gave me trouble, because I couldn't remember which one of the five had the Korok. Without any marks on your map, the 30 minutes are completely justified, I guess.

However, I heard that other people still get the marks on their map when they collected the Forest Water. Don't know what exactly I did screw up... I didn't have charts of all islands at this point, because I was combining the Forest Water quest with some first time visits on certain islands. Maybe that was the reason. Or maybe I have to talk to the Deku Tree first. Talking to him, after I got the Forest Water, didn't do anything... So, I don't know, what went wrong exactly.

You have to leave and re-enter, then ask the Deku Tree about his Koroks to get them on the map. One question: if you start Hero Mode, do you get the Hero's New Clothes immediately? Or do you instead simply do the first and second quests, both in Hero Mode?